Strategy 4: Manage parking resources more efficiently with long-term goal of charging the right price for every space.
Actions
Parking reform enables drivers to find a parking spot near their destination, encourages people to take transit, walk or bike by reflecting driving’s true cost, increases funding for transit operations and supports people with fewer public options.
Climate Roadmap Action ID
Climate Roadmap Action Title
Climate Roadmap Action Description
Assumed Year that Action Starts Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (For Modeling Purposes)
CR-4.1
Expand Paid Parking on Sundays and Evenings
Expand paid hourly parking to Sundays and evenings to better manage parking and fund transit.
2026
($222)
CR-4.2/4.3
Gradually Charge the Right Price for Every On-street Space
Charge the right price for every onstreet space by gradually converting all on-street parking spaces to paid through expanding the Residential Parking Permit program area and converting those areas to paid parking for visitors.
2026
($980) - ($8,750)
CR-4.4/4.5
Increase Residential Parking Permit Fees
Increase Residential Parking Permit fees to better manage parking and fund transit.
2026
($25) - ($80)
GHG Reduction Potential of Strategy with Implementation by 2050: 69,002 Annual Tons of mtCO2e Reduced Potential Annual Tons of mtCO2e Reduced by 2050
Parking 0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
Parking Annual GHG Reduction Potential of Strategy with Implementation by 2050
Equity Practices The list below includes considerations that should be integrated into the engagement and implementation phase to advance racial equity when implementing Parking climate actions: • Parking enforcement can have negative impacts upon marginalized groups. To address that, ensure parking enforcement activity does not disproportionately affect communities of color.
Parking Actions
• Pricing parking may have disproportionate impacts upon people who cannot afford to pay for parking or lack robust alternative transportation options. To both manage parking more efficiently and incorporate racial equity-driven decision-making tools, improve communication around the extensive discount and waiver programs available for people with low-incomes and experiencing homelessness, consider reduced parking fees based on income, use increased fares to improve service and make the application process for discounts as easy as possible so it is not a barrier to access.
Why Manage Parking Resources More Efficiently?
The vast majority of San Francisco’s street and curb space is used for parking private cars, increasingly at odds with its need for public transportation. The City spends millions of dollars owning, maintaining and managing this space. Everywhere we provide “free” parking, we subsidize it and spend resources that could otherwise improve our transit system and make our streets safer. And this is just one of the costs of “free” parking, the city must also manage increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, reduced access for people and more traffic on our streets. Given the current fiscal crisis, a moment that jeopardizes our ability to run and maintain our critical transportation system, and our Climate Action, Transit First and Vision Zero goals, we cannot afford to subsidize driving and parking private cars. By employing our uniquely progressive Charter that dictates that parking revenues be used to fund the transit system, we can shift both our financial and climate futures.
• Pricing should help increase access to non-automobile modes, not decrease access overall. As the city reforms its parking policies and practices, ensure non-automobile modes are available and reliable.
Community Benefits
30
Air Quality
Public Health
Safety
Economic Vitality
Approximate Full Buildout Capital Costs and Net Operating Costs through 2050 in Millions of 2022 Dollars
Travel Experience
We need to manage our parking differently and reduce or eliminate parking subsidies. We need to encourage those with the most means and ability to shift to transit, walking and rolling while reserving our resources to support more equitable infrastructure. Our resources must prioritize people who have been historically underserved and those with disabilities that may not have safe and convenient options walking and rolling and have no reasonable choice but to drive. In tandem with other strategies in the Climate Roadmap, parking reform helps us accomplish that—and it is one of the most cost-effective ways to transform our system so that it aligns with climate, mobility and health goals.
31
